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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/23524654">Missing Puzzle Pieces</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/JayBreak/pseuds/JayBreak'>JayBreak</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>A Song of Ice and Fire &amp; Related Fandoms, A Song of Ice and Fire - George R. R. Martin, Game of Thrones (TV)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, F/M, Jon Snow and the Starks Are Not Related, Kid Fic, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Rating May Change</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-04-07</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-04-11</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-01 14:46:48</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Mature</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>2</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>3,746</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/23524654</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/JayBreak/pseuds/JayBreak</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>"It's hard, you know? Dating with kids" Sansa sighed.<br/>"That's why I don't do it," Jon quipped with a wry smile. And then he immediately felt stupid when he noticed her face drop almost imperceptibly. What did he say wrong?</p>
<p>Or</p>
<p>The one where Jon and Sansa are both single parents with a mountain of issues but that doesn't stop them from liking each other.</p>
<p>Modern AU.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Catelyn Stark/Ned Stark, Jon Snow/Sansa Stark, Roslin Frey/Robb Stark, Theon Greyjoy/Jeyne Poole</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>11</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>91</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Gulltown</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Hello! I feel like this quarantine is the perfect time to make my return to Jonsa fanfic. The fandom has changed a lot since the last time I posted. When I first started writing LASITS, there were less that 500 Jonsa fics on this site, now there's more than 5000. That's a wonderful thing. I have had several Jonsa fic ideas over the years, but haven't really had the time to write them. Now I have nothing but time, so I'll be trying to bang a few out. </p>
<p>I don't know how many chapters this will end up being but I have a clear idea of where I want it to go. It'll probably be pretty short chapters (Me short, so like 2000 words haha) and alternating between Jon and Sansa POV. I'm pretty excited both to write this and to share it with you guys. </p>
<p>As for my other fic, Like a Stone in the Snow (Or LASITS as only I call it), I know it's been years since I updated, but I have not officially abandoned it. However, I was a sophomore in college when I began writing it and I am now a Junior in medical school, so my life and life experiences have changed pretty drastically since then, as has my writing style and skill. One of these days I will go back and clean up the first few chapters before I start adding to it. I have a completely new direction in mind for the story, if anybody is still interested in reading it.</p>
<p>And now back to the show! I hope you guys enjoy this first chapter of my new fic. I have never really written kidfic before because I am terrible at writing kids, but this idea wouldn't leave me and I wanted to challenge myself, so this is what I came up with. This has not been betaed, so there are probably mistakes. Please let me know what you think!</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Sansa woke to the feel of a small hand petting her face. She opened her eyes to see two green ones blinking back at her, framed by unruly red hair and a gappy smile.</p><p>“Mommy are you awake?” Her seven-year-old daughter asked.</p><p>“I am now Alys” She sat up, feeling the air mattress sink beneath her. It had deflated a little during the night, and she knew that her back would be paying for it later.</p><p>“Mommy are we still gonna fly on the plane today” Alysanne seemed to have no qualms about the night spent on the floor and was in as high spirits as ever.</p><p>“Yes sweetling, we are” Sansa said as she got up and made her way over to the crib on the other side of the room. Jasper was already awake, sitting up and playing with his favorite stuffed animal, Rodrick the rabbit; but he clambered up when he saw her, reaching his chubby arms over the bars of the crib.</p><p>“Mama out!”</p><p>“Good morning baby boy” Sansa cooed as she lifted him into her arms.</p><p>“Not a baby!”</p><p>“That’s right you’re a big boy, now aren’t you? And you’re going to have a big boy bed to prove it in Wintertown!” The almost three-year-old had been attempting prison breaks from his crib for the past few months, and she figured that the move was the perfect time to make the change. She’d found a used toddler bed online for a steal and had ordered it a couple of weeks ago.</p><p>“Remember I’m getting my own bed too mommy!” Alys chimed in, never one to be left out.</p><p>“How could I forget the princess bed for my princess” Sansa laughed. “And you’re both going to have a room to share! No more sharing with mommy.”</p><p>To say that the three of them in their tiny one-bedroom bungalow was a squeeze would be an understatement, and it had only gotten more difficult as the kids had gotten older. Unfortunately, houses in the Vale tended to be either tiny or huge, and the Gulltown bungalow was all Sansa could afford at her price point. It was still miles better than the cramped studio in King’s landing that she lived in until Alys was 2, and the rent was almost half of what that had cost.</p><p>“Yay!” Alysanne exclaimed.</p><p>“Okay, time for you to go brush your teeth and get ready Alys! We don’t want to miss the plane” Those words were enough to get Alysanne scrambling off the air mattress and into the bathroom. Sansa couldn’t help but smile at her daughter’s excitement, despite the fact that she couldn’t muster enough of her own to match it.</p><p>Jasper began to squirm in her arms, so she set him down on the floor to play with Rodrick and began the work of deflating the air mattress, and dismantling the crib, making sure to keep one eye on Jasper so he didn’t amble off. Not that there was much trouble that he could get into right now. Their small home was virtually empty, save for their three suitcases and a few boxes full of odds and ends that Sansa was going to drop off at the Sept’s donation box on the way to the airport.</p><p>Robb and Theon had flown down last weekend, loaded all of their belongings into a trailer, attached the trailer to Sansa’s old beater and then driven it all back up to Wintertown. Sansa would be eternally grateful to them for that, because although the flight was only about 3 hours, the drive was almost 15, and there was no way she could have done it with two small children.</p><p>Once the mattress and crib were both in their respective boxes, Sansa grabbed her phone from where it was plugged into the wall. Predictably, she had several voicemails from her mother, likely ranging from excited to anxious. She didn’t bother listening to them. She also had text messages from both Robb and Arya. Robb’s stated “D-day!” followed by a row of airplane emojis. Arya’s was just a snowflake emoji.</p><p>Sansa shot a quick “See you soon!” to Robb and just an upside-down smiley face emoji to Arya.</p><p>Then she glanced at over at Jasper—he was still quietly playing with Rodrick, thank the gods—before clicking into her contacts. She hovered over Harry’s name for almost 10 seconds before pressing the call button.</p><p>Unsurprisingly, the call went to voice mail. Sansa tried twice more with the same result. She sighed before deciding to just send him a text message.</p><p>
  <strong>To: Harry</strong>
</p><p>
  <strong>We leave for the airport in 3 hours. Come before then if you want to say goodbye to your son.</strong>
</p><p>She didn’t expect a reply. Harry hadn’t bothered to come see Jasper in months. Why should it be any different now? The fact that they were moving halfway across Westeros was probably barely a blip on Harry’s radar.</p><p>Finally, Sansa called her mother back. She picked up on the first ring.</p><p>“Finally! I’ve been trying to get to you all morning”</p><p>“Sorry, mom, you know how it is” Sansa said vaguely.</p><p>“Is everything all set for the move? You have all your passports and boarding passes? Are the kids ready? You haven’t changed your mind, have you?” Catelyn rambled out all the questions in quick succession.</p><p>“Yes, everything is set, and no I have not changed my mind” Sansa grumbled. “It’s a little late for that.” She knew that she was being unfair to her mother, but she couldn’t help the bitterness that seeped into her voice. She hadn’t exactly wanted to make this move and they both knew it.</p><p>“You know this is the best thing for you Sansa,” Catelyn sighed “And it’s the best thing for my precious little grandbabies too.”</p><p>“Yes, I know.”</p><p>Although running back home to the North to live with and work for her parents was pretty much Sansa’s worse nightmare, it was also currently her only viable option. For the past few years, she’d been able to scrape by, making a comfortable, if not extravagant, life for her and her children here in the Vale. But in the last few months everything had slowly gone to shit.</p><p>First, her friend Mya, who used to watch the kids for free while Sansa was working nights announced that she would be moving down south with her boyfriend. Affording the extra childcare would have been difficult enough, but it was soon made moot by the fact that Sansa was laid off from her night job, working as a waitress at a 24-hour diner.</p><p>Despite the fact that Gulltown had once been a bustling port city over the years it had transformed more into a sleepy seaside village, and the owner of the diner could no longer economically justify remaining open for 24 hours. Although this solved her childcare issue, it also majorly reduced her income.</p><p>The final nail in the coffin happened a few weeks ago, when Petyr Baelish had walked into the small grocery store that Sansa worked as a cashier at during the day. He told her that he’d heard about her troubles and offered for her and the kids to move back in with him. <em>I’m all alone in that big house now that Robin is off at college</em> he had said in that smarmy voice of his. And that… that was a big fat no. She called her mother as soon as she got home from work that same day.</p><p>“We have the guest house all set up for you guys. We got some new toys for the kids’ room too”</p><p>“You didn’t have to do that. You’re already doing too much for me.”</p><p>“You’re our daughter. There is no such thing as too much.” Her mother said primly.</p><p>“Thank you, mom.” There was no point of arguing with her about this. Not when she was going to see her in a matter of hours. Not when she was going to be living with her indefinitely. Besides, Alysanne and Jasper would adore new toys. Sansa was the one being difficult. “I need to let you go now so I can check on Alys and start getting Jasper ready for the flight.”</p><p>“Okay darling.” Catelyn hesitated for a few seconds before saying, “You know your father and I love you, right? And we just want to take care of you. All of you.”</p><p>“Yes mom, I know” Sansa sighed. “I love you too. And… I know I’m not acting like it, but you know how grateful I am for this. This is what’s best for the kids.”</p><p>“We know darling. I’m going to let you go now. Your father is going to pick you up from the airport. We’ll see you soon!</p><p>“See you soon mom, bye” Sansa said before ending the call.</p><p>Alysanne took that moment to skip back into the room, dressed in the clothes Sansa had laid out for her. “Mommy you need to help me with my hair! I want to do pigtails today.”</p><p>“Of course, Alys, let me get your brother ready first though, okay? I put some books in your backpack for you that you can read while we’re waiting and while we’re on the plane. We’re going to have a pretty long day today.</p><p>Alysanne pulled a face. “I don’t want books, I want toys”</p><p>“I may have put Cynthia in your backpack too” Sansa laughed. Alysanne gasped and ran over to the pink bag, clearly excited by just the thought of her favorite doll, and Sansa took the distraction to start getting Jasper ready.</p><p>Raising two kids by herself was anything but a walk in the park, and although her pride would barely let her admit it, she was looking forward to the relief that having her family so close by would provide.</p><p>When she had left Wintertown 8 years ago to go to school in King’s landing, this is not how she thought things would turn out. When she left, she was the golden girl, she was going to be a success story, she was going to make it big in the city and live a glamorous life and everybody knew it. Now she was returning as a single mother of two children with two different dads. She had no fancy degree, no fancy job and no fancy life.</p><p>No, this was not the life that she had envisioned for herself. But it was the life that she had, and she loved her children more than she ever thought it possible to love anything or anyone, and she was going to make the best of it for them.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. Wintertown</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Jon has a busy Saturday morning in Wintertown.</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Hello friends! Still chugging along with this new project and having a lot of fun with it. Thank you for all the feedback on the first chapter! I'm glad people seem to be as excited about this as I am. My aim is to update once or twice a week but I truly cannot promise anything as this quarantine has wrecked havoc on my sleep cycle and I am also technically still supposed to be doing work for medical school. But these chapters are pretty short and if I can stay focused it only takes me a couple of hours to get one out. Now, some quick housekeeping before we get into this chapter: I have messed with the ages a bit to fit the story. Most of the age gaps are the same as in (book) canon, but I've made Jon/Robb have a slightly bigger gap from Sansa just to make my timeline with all the children make sense. The ages in this story are:<br/>Jon/Robb: 31<br/>Sansa: 26<br/>Arya: 23<br/>Bran: 22<br/>Rickon: 17<br/>All of the OCs ages will be mentioned within the body of the story (if they are relevant).</p>
<p>Now on with the show!</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Jon snow glanced once more at the sticky note calendar on his fridge just to make sure that he knew everything that he needed to get done today. Saturday morning was errand time in the Snow household, and anything that was forgotten would have to wait until next week. Once he was sure that he hadn’t left anything out, he grabbed today’s sticky note, folded it into little squares and put it in his pocket.</p>
<p>He made his way towards the front door but then he paused by the stairs. He figured that he might as well try and drag his son out of hibernation for this. He’d been on summer vacation for two weeks and Jon had probably only seen him a total of three times since. That had to change. Besides, Jon knew for a fact that Torrhen was awake; he’d heard the teen ambling into the bathroom while Jon was drinking his morning coffee. That was a minor miracle on its own, it being so early on a Saturday. He had to make the most of it. He jogged up the stairs and knocked loudly on the door of his son’s bedroom.</p>
<p>“Go away!”</p>
<p>Jon rolled his eyes and pushed the door open. “Morning sunshine” he said drily.</p>
<p>Torrhen turned from where he was sitting at his desk, in front of his laptop, and leveled Jon with a murderous look, “I said go away dad!”</p>
<p>“And last week <em>I</em> said we’re not doing this you being rude to me thing. You don’t listen to me, I don’t listen to you.”</p>
<p>The fourteen-year-old sighed deeply and swiveled his chair so that he was fully facing his father. His headphones were around his neck and his long red curls were piled into a manbun on top of his head. He plastered a fake smile on his face and said, “Good morning dad. Please go away.”</p>
<p>“Close enough,” Jon sighed. “I’m going to take Ghost for a walk and run some errands. You should come with me.”</p>
<p>“Why?”</p>
<p>“Because you haven’t seen daylight in days and we’re already a pale enough people as it is?”</p>
<p>“I’m busy dad.”</p>
<p>“What are you doing that can’t wait until later?”</p>
<p>“Watching a livestream” Torrhen answered smartly.</p>
<p>Jon sighed. “I’m worried about you Torr. It can’t be healthy to be inside all the time like this.”</p>
<p>“I went out last week.”</p>
<p>“No, you went to Arthor’s house last week. Where the two of you probably stayed inside playing video games.” Arthor was Torrhen’s best friend. They had been thick as thieves since Jon and Torrhen moved to Wintertown 6 years ago.</p>
<p>“Dad, if I promise to walk Ghost everyday next week will you please leave me alone?”</p>
<p>Although part of Jon still wanted to fight his son on this, wanted to make Torrhen spend time with him, a larger part wanted Torrhen to <em>want</em> to spend time with him, and knew that right now that was a lost cause.</p>
<p>“Fine. But I’m holding you to that. Every single day next week you better be up bright and early with Ghost.”</p>
<p>“Okay, fine, whatever, goodbye,” Torrhen swung back around in his chair and placed his headphones back on. Jon rolled his eyes and left the room, shutting the door behind him.</p>
<p>He wasn’t sure when his bright, happy boy had transformed into a brooding ball of hormones and angst, but it was becoming increasingly disheartening. While Jon himself had been considered quite brooding in his younger years (and probably still now if he was being completely honest with himself), Torrhen seemed to have taken it to the next level.</p>
<p>Jon made his way down the stairs and to the front door. He grabbed Ghost’s leash from it’s hook by the door and then whistled sharply. The albino husky came bounding out of the living room, stopping by Jon’s feet and standing to attention, eager to have his leash put on and to go on a walk. At least somebody was excited to leave the house with him.</p>
<p>Jon attached Ghost’s leash and then opened the door, allowing the excitable dog to lead the way as they exited the house.</p>
<p>Lynessa Flint was watering the rose beds in her front garden, and she raised up a hand in greeting as Jon walked past.</p>
<p>“Morning Jon!”</p>
<p>“Morning Mrs. Flint,” Jon smiled “How are you doing today?”</p>
<p>“Oh, I can’t complain. How is the boy of yours? Haven’t seen him in a while…”</p>
<p>Jon’s smile got a little strained. “Torrhen’s fine. Have to be on my way now. Have a long list of errands today.” He waved goodbye with his free hand and continued walking past her house with a brisk pace.</p>
<p>Lynessa Flint was a widow and a pretty good gossip. She spent most of her days sitting in her front garden talking to everybody who came past and telling them things that everybody else had told her. She was a nice enough woman, but Jon tried to keep his distance except basic neighborly courtesy. It was hard enough to keep your business to yourself in a small town like this.</p>
<p>Jon continued to make his way through the town. He and Torrhen lived in a 3-bedroom townhouse right in the middle of town. He’d been able to get it for a decent price because the previous owners had been eager to sell. They were a retired couple who wanted to use the money to spend their remaining days travelling. The location was ideal as almost everything they needed was in walking distance. Jon mostly just used his car to go to work, to pick Torrhen up from any after school activities, or to go out of town.</p>
<p>Jon had been born in Wintertown but left to live further North when he was 8 years old. It felt almost poetic when he had in turn gotten the opportunity to move back when Torrhen was 8 years old. Torrhen had been born in Hardhome and they lived there for all of his early childhood, but Jon missed the small-town life, and ultimately thought that Wintertown was a better place to raise a child. He got a job offer that he couldn’t refuse, and the rest was history.</p>
<p>They’d settled into Wintertown quite nicely. Torrhen made a few good friends early on and stuck with them through elementary and middle school. Jon pretty quickly moved up the ranks of his job and was able to make a few good friends in town too, including the local pediatrician, Samwell Tarly. Torrhen had taken ill during the winter when he was 9 and Sam had both treated him coached Jon through his freak-outs. They became fast friends soon after, and Jon often had Sam, his wife Gilly and their young sons over for dinner.</p>
<p>Jon got through his errands pretty quickly, even after taking the scenic route through the park for ghost. He was able to cross off post office, library and bank in quick succession. By this point he has made a loop around the town center and is almost back home. His last stop is a little family owned bakery a couple of streets away from his townhouse.</p>
<p>Frost Bakery is known for having the best fresh bread in Wintertown, as well as an eclectic selection of pastries that is constantly changing. Jon always picks up something for him and Torrhen as a weekly treat. He considered skipping out this week, because Torrhen’s behavior of late has left a lot to be desired and he doesn’t want to reward him with delicious baked goods; but if he’s being honest, he would mostly be punishing himself. He probably eats 70% of the tasty treats each week to Torrhen’s 30%. It’s his biggest vice.</p>
<p>Once he ensures that Ghost’s leash is securely fastened to the dog pole outside of the bakery, he walks inside to find it as busy as expected for a Saturday morning. Jon dutifully goes to the back of the line and begins looking at the display case to figure what treat he wants to buy today.</p>
<p>He was only looking for about a minute when he heard a voice behind him.</p>
<p>“Jon? Jon Snow?”</p>
<p>He turned around to see Erena Forrester standing behind him and internally groaned. Erena Forrester had been the queen of the PTA when Torrhen was in elementary school. Jon had dreaded all those events immensely because while he wanted to be supportive of his son and do his best as a single dad, he also hated dealing with Erena. She was a high strung, judgmental perfectionist. Luckily, school PTA’s seemed to get less power as the kids got older, and now Torrhen was about to enter high school where the PTA was practically nonexistent as students were encouraged to volunteer and organize things themselves instead of having the parents do it.</p>
<p>Still, Erena Forrester was always a strong presence around Wintertown. Her husband Ronnel was one of only a handful of lawyers in town and he did pretty well for himself and his family. Erena was only too happy to revel in the status that came with being the wife of one of the most wealthy and prestigious men in town. Erena was also part of a larger friend group of women, mostly young moms, who considered themselves the trendsetters of Wintertown. Jon tended to try to avoid them.</p>
<p>“Erena, how are you?” He asked with a bland smile.</p>
<p>“Much better now darling. Where have you been hiding? I feel you disappeared.”</p>
<p>“Things have been pretty busy down at the factory, you know” Jon said noncommittally.</p>
<p>Erena pushed on, either unaware or unfazed by his indifference. “And how is your little boy? Torrhen, was it? Bet he’s not so little anymore. They grow so fast, don’t they?”</p>
<p>“Torrhen’s good- “Jon could barely get out his sentence before Erena barreled on once again.</p>
<p>“He’s starting high school over at West Wintertown this fall, isn’t he? He’ll be in the same class as my Marna.”</p>
<p>There were two big high schools in Wintertown, East and West Wintertown high, and they had a bitter athletic rivalry. West Wintertown was slightly better for academics though, and because their house was pretty much in the middle of town, Torrhen had been allowed to choose. There were a few smaller schools too including a religious school for followers of the seven and a fancy private school about 20 minutes out of town. The religious school had a tiny class size simply by virtue of the fact that their were so few followers of the seven in the North and the private school was mostly populated by the children of rich diplomats and business people who lived in the North but were not from Wintertown. The people of Wintertown were very proud, and that pride easily extended to their local schools. Even people like Erena Forrester would gain more standing in town for sending their kid to a local school than to a private one.</p>
<p>“Summers barely begun and there’s already been so much do in preparation. High School is the big leagues you know? Marna’s been taking summer prep courses, doing some volunteering, and cheer camp of course. I’m sure your Torrhen has been just as busy.”</p>
<p>Jon gave a thin smile. “Yep.”</p>
<p>Thankfully, Jon was saved from further conversation by the fact that the line had moved, and he was now face to face with a smiling Aregelle Frost, ready to take his order. He ordered a small box of some delicious looking forest fruit pastries and then he was on his way.</p>
<p>Even with the little speed bump at the end, he had still gotten through his weekly errands in decent time, and now he had the rest of the day to himself.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>And now you have met Jon! This was mostly a table setting chapter but it was still fun to write. Torrhen will probably be the hardest character for me to write during this story because it's hard to get a good balance for younger teenagers, but I'm excited for the challenge. I also realized that I am incapable of not having a lot of exposition because I just love world-building too much. I'm trying not to info dump so much though, and only include bits of information at a time as they become relevant to the story. Some commenters asked some questions last chapter about things that will be revealed later. I can't answer your questions yet but I'm excited for you to read it all! The next chapter is Sansa again but it is also mostly just exposition so I will try to get that up as quickly as possible to we can get to the meet of the story. </p>
<p>Thank you for reading. Please let me know what you thought! I love feedback.</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
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